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Sonny Barger

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Sonny Barger
Born
Ralph Hubert Barger

(1938-10-08) October 8, 1938 (age 85)
Modesto, California, United States
Occupation(s)Outlaw biker, author, actor
Known forFounding member Hells Angels, Oakland chapter
AllegianceHells Angels MC
Conviction(s)Possession of narcotics with intent to distribute (1973)
Conspiracy to transport and receive explosives in interstate commerce with intent to kill and damage buildings (1988)
Criminal penalty10 years-to-life imprisonment (1973)
4 years' imprisonment (1989)
WebsiteOfficial website Edit this at Wikidata

Ralph Hubert "Sonny" Barger (born October 8, 1938) is an American outlaw biker, author, and actor who is a founding member (1957) of the Oakland, California chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.[1] He is the author of five books. Onscreen, Barger was identified but did not speak in Hells Angels on Wheels (1967) and was one of several members of the Angels who had speaking parts playing themselves in Hell's Angels '69 (1969); he has appeared in several additional films. He also appeared in the television series Sons of Anarchy as Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz.

Biography

Early life

Ralph Hubert Barger was born in Modesto, California on October 8, 1938. His mother abandoned the family when Barger was four months old, leaving him and his older sister Shirley to be raised by their grandmother and alcoholic father. Growing up in Oakland, he was suspended from school several times for assaulting teachers, and he often fought with other boys. He dropped out of school in the tenth grade. Although many of his school friends became drug addicts, Barger worked at a grocery store and enlisted in the Army aged sixteen in 1955, but was given an honorable discharge fourteen months later when it was discovered that he had forged his birth certificate in order to be able to join. After his return from the Army, Barger drifted between menial jobs and lived with his father in a single residence at a hotel, later moving in with his sister and her children. He joined his first motorcycle club, the Oakland Panthers, in 1956. After that club disbanded, he started riding with another group of bikers, one of whom, Don "Boots" Reeves, wore a patch – a small skull wearing an aviator cap set within a set of wings – that belonged to a defunct motorcycle club in North Sacramento.[2] Founding their own club named the Hells Angels on April 1, 1957, each member wore the patch, later known as the Hells Angels' "Death's Head" logo, after having duplicates made at a trophy store in Hayward. Barger and the Oakland Hells Angels were unaware at the time that there were several other, loosely affiliated, clubs using the same name throughout California. With Barger as president, the Oakland Hells Angels travelled to southern California and amalgamated with the other Hells Angels chapters, dividing territory and forming club bylaws. While infighting did take place between the chapters, conflicts predominantly arose with other clubs such as the Gypsy Jokers.[3]

With Otto Friedli, the founder of the original San Bernardino Hells Angels chapter, in jail, Barger was proclaimed national president in 1958. One of his first actions was to relocate the club's mother chapter – the de facto national headquarters – from San Bernardino to Oakland. Later that year, Barger suffered a fractured skull during a fight with Oakland police.[4]

1960s

Barger was employed as a machine operator from 1960 to 1965, when he was dismissed due to extended absences. His criminal record began in 1963 after he was arrested for possession of marijuana. He was arrested again on the same charge the following year, and for assault with a deadly weapon in 1965 and 1966.[5] In the late 1960s, Barger began selling heroin and also developed an addiction to cocaine. His first wife Elsie Mae (née George) died on February 1, 1967 from an air bubble in the bloodstream resulting from an illegal abortion. Circa 1969, he began a relationship with Sharon Gruhlke, a former beauty queen from Livermore.[6] Between 1966 and 1973, the majority of Barger's personal income was derived from advising various film projects.[4]

According to former Oakland Hells Angels chapter vice-president George "Baby Huey" Wethern – who later testified against the club and entered the Federal Witness Protection Program – in his 1978 book A Wayward Angel, Barger convened a meeting of the leaders of the Hells Angels and other California motorcycle clubs in 1960 in which the various clubs parleyed over the mutual problem of police harassment. The clubs voted to ally under a "one percenter" patch to be worn on their respective colors. The term refers to a comment allegedly made by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) that 99% of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens, implying the last one percent were outlaws.[4] The Oakland chapter, with Barger serving as its president, assumed an informal position of authority within the Hells Angels that began following a standoff with local police and the California Highway Patrol in the aftermath of an outlaw motorcycle meeting in Porterville in September 1963.[3]

On October 16, 1965, six Hells Angels members were arrested and a police sergeant suffered a broken leg when a group of bikers attacked anti-Vietnam War demonstrators in Berkeley. The incident led to a collection of students, left-wing political groups and labor unions led by Allen Ginsberg and Jerry Rubin meeting with motorcycle club representatives, headed by the president of the Sacramento HAMC chapter, in the cafeteria at San Jose State College, seeking assurance that a planned Vietnam Day Committee protest march in Oakland on November 20 would go undisturbed. On November 19, five Hells Angels led by Barger held a press conference at their bail bondsman's office, announcing that the club would not attend the protest the following day as "Any physical encounter would only produce sympathy for this mob of traitors", according to Barger.[7] He went on to read out a telegram sent to President Lyndon B. Johnson, reading "I volunteer a group of loyal Americans for behind the line duty in Vietnam. We feel that a crack group of trained guerillas could demoralize the Viet Cong and advance the cause of freedom."[8] President Johnson did not reply to the letter.[9]

For at least five years beginning in 1967, Barger and the Hells Angels turned over weapons acquired on the black market or locations of weapons, which could otherwise be used by Black Panther Party and Weather Underground radicals, to the Oakland Police Department (OPD) in exchange for the release of jailed Hells Angels members. OPD sergeant Edward "Ted" Hilliard testified in 1972 that he accepted guns, dynamite and grenades from Barger personally in return for deals on arrests during at least fifteen separate meetings, the most recent of which took place in the spring of 1971.[10] Hilliard also testified that Barger had offered "to deliver the bagged body of a leftist for every Angel released from jail".[11] He denied, however, that authorities permitted crimes committed by the Hells Angels.[4]

Barger was among thirty-three members of the Oakland chapter arrested on drug charges after police raided a bar and a duplex apartment in the city on August 30, 1968. $7,000 worth of heroin and $2,500 worth of other narcotics were confiscated, as were firearms – including an M16 rifle, two shotguns and an M1 carbine – and a large cache of ammunition, knives, chains and suspected stolen merchandise.[12]

Barger was one of the Hells Angels present at the Rolling Stones' Altamont Free Concert on December 6, 1969, where concert goers and musicians alike were subjected to violence from the bikers, including Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane who was knocked unconscious and audience member Meredith Hunter who was stabbed to death. After the concert and critical media attention given to the HAMC, Barger went on a local California radio station to justify the actions of the Hells Angels and to present their side of the story. He claimed that violence only started once the crowd began vandalizing the Hells Angels' motorcycles. Barger would later claim that Hunter fired a shot which struck a Hells Angels member with what he described as "just a flesh wound."[13]

Barger features prominently in Hunter S. Thompson's book, Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1966). Barger and the Hells Angels are also depicted in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968), during Ken Kesey's La Honda encampment. He appears in the documentary film about the Altamont Free Concert: Gimme Shelter (1970).

1970s

On April 11, 1970, Barger was arrested on narcotics charges after Donald Howarth, a film studio property manager and 1967 Mr. America from Studio City, was apprehended while walking towards Barger's home with 17 ounces of cocaine and 30 ounces of heroin (with an estimated retail worth of $350,000) in a suitcase. Barger temporarily resigned as president of the Oakland chapter in June 1970 to fight the charges, but returned to the position within months after his successor, John "Johnny Angel" Palomar, was sentenced to a ten-year prison term for shooting a bartender.[6] The drug charges against Barger were later dismissed, although Howarth was convicted and sentenced to serve five years-to-life in prison.[14] Barger was, however, sentenced to ninety days in jail after walking out of a court session.[5]

Barger and four other Hells Angels were charged with attempted murder, kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon after being arrested while driving through Redwood Regional Park by park rangers who discovered two bound, gagged and beaten club prospects in the trunk of the vehicle on January 22, 1972.[15] All five pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of unlawful imprisonment.[14]

Along with fellow Hells Angels members Sergey Walton, Donald Duane "Whitey" Smith and "Oakland" Gary Popkin, Barger was charged with the May 21, 1972 murder of Servio Winston Agero – a drug dealer from McAllen, Texas who had travelled to Oakland with a consignment of narcotics for sale – which allegedly occurred following a dispute over an $80,000 cocaine deal. A prosecution witness, Richard Ivaldi, testified that he witnessed Barger shoot Agero dead as he slept at the home of an absent acquaintance, and that Barger subsequently ordered the others to set fire to the residence.[16] Barger and his three co-defendants were acquitted on December 29, 1972 following a seven-week trial after Ivaldi's credibility came under scrutiny.[6]

On March 16, 1973, Barger was sentenced to a prison term of ten years-to-life after he was convicted of possession of narcotics for sale (37 grams of heroin), and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. His girlfriend, Sharon Gruhlke, was a co-defendant; her case ended in a mistrial when a jury failed to reach a verdict.[6] According to police intelligence reports, Barger had designated San Jose chapter president Fillmore Cross as his international successor during a motorcycle run at Bass Lake prior to his imprisonment.[14] Cross was also imprisoned, for possession of amphetamine in 1975, however, and Barger allegedly continued to lead the Hells Angels from his cell at Folsom Prison.[15] Barger married Gruhlke while he was imprisoned in 1973.[17] He was paroled on November 3, 1977 after serving four-and-a-half years of his sentence.[18]

Barger was arrested on a parole violation charge of possession of firearms when police officers discovered a 9mm automatic pistol, a .38 caliber revolver and a rifle after arriving at his Oakland home on March 27, 1978 to serve a subpoena and to conduct a parole search.[15] The case was dismissed when Barger's wife Sharon testified that the guns belonged to her, not her husband.[19]

Barger and his wife were among thirty-three members and associates of the Hells Angels' Oakland, San Francisco, Marin County, San Jose, Los Angeles and Vallejo chapters indicted on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act statutes on June 13, 1979.[19][20] The prosecution team, representing the federal government, attempted to demonstrate a pattern of behavior to convict Barger and other members of the club of racketeering offenses related to illegal weapons and drugs.[21] On July 2, 1980, following an eight-month trial in which 194 witnesses testified, a mistrial was declared when a jury failed to reach a verdict on counts against eighteen defendants. Of the remaining twelve, nine were convicted and three – including Sonny and Sharon Barger – were acquitted.[22]

1980s–1990s

In 1983, Barger was diagnosed with throat cancer, after years of heavy smoking. His diagnosis and treatment was at Fort Miley VA Hospital in San Francisco. Having stage III laryngeal cancer, a total laryngectomy with bilateral functional neck dissections was performed by Michael Tralla MD, FACS. Consequently since his vocal cords were removed, he learned to vocalize using the muscles in his esophagus.[4] Barger's second-in-command, Michael O'Farrell, served as president of the Oakland Hells Angels while he received and recovered from treatment.[23]

On November 10, 1987, thirteen Hells Angels including Barger were arrested on narcotics, weapons, explosives and conspiracy charges during a series of raids carried out by the FBI, ATF and California State Police in the San Francisco Bay Area, which also resulted in the seizure of over a hundred weapons, more than $1 million in cash and drugs, and three methamphetamine laboratories.[24] The operation in the Bay Area was executed in synchronization with raids on various other HAMC chapters in four other states – producing a total of thirty-eight arrests – and concluded a two-year FBI investigation of the club, which commenced in 1985 after Anthony John Tait, an officer in the Anchorage, Alaska Hells Angels chapter, volunteered to become a paid informant. Travelling the country at government expense, Tait made documented purchases of weapons, explosives and drugs from the Hells Angels.[25] He also covertly recorded club meetings by wearing a wire.[26] Barger and nine other Hells Angels from California and were Alaska extradited to Louisville, Kentucky to face trail for conspiring to transport firearms and explosives across state lines in order to kill members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club in retaliation for the death of John Cleave Webb, the Anchorage HAMC chapter president who was shot and killed by two Outlaws members outside a biker bar in Jefferson County, Kentucky on August 12, 1986.[27] Barger was convicted of conspiracy on October 28, 1988[28][29] and was sentenced to a four-year prison term the following year.[4]

Barger was released from FCI Phoenix in Arizona on November 6, 1992 after serving three-and-a-half years of a four-year sentence.[4][30] In 1998, he returned to Arizona with his third wife Noel and stepdaughter Sarrah, joining the Hells Angels' Cave Creek chapter and working as a motorcycle mechanic.[31][3][32] The club was established in the state the year before following a patch-over of the Dirty Dozen Motorcycle Club, which was promulgated during a meeting in Oakland in October 1997.[33]

2000s–present

In 2000, Barger became a best-selling author with his autobiography, Hell’s Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. He subsequently wrote several biker-related novels.[34]

On March 7, 2003, Barger was arrested by Maricopa County Sheriff's Office deputies after a reported fight with his wife and stepdaughter at their home in New River, Arizona. He was later sentenced to an eight-day jail term.[35] Barger married his fourth wife Zorana on June 25, 2005.[36]

In recent years, Barger has worked to promote motorcycle safety; he co-authored a book on the subject with Darwin Holmstrom (the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles (1998)[37]) titled Let's Ride: Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcycling (2010).[38]

In terms of pure workmanship, personally I don't like Harleys. I ride them because I'm in the club, and that's the image, but if I could I would seriously consider riding a Honda ST1100 or a BMW. We really missed the boat not switching over to the Japanese models when they began building bigger bikes. I'll usually say "Fuck Harley-Davidson." – Ralph "Sonny" Barger, Hell's Angel [39]

On November 30, 2010, Barger made a guest appearance as Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz on the season 3 finale of the FX television series Sons of Anarchy, about a fictional outlaw motorcycle club, allegedly based on the Hells Angels. Show creator Kurt Sutter spent time with Barger and other members of Hells Angels researching for the show, and acted opposite Barger in his scene. Barger returned on November 29, 2011, in the season 4 finale, part one. Barger's third guest appearance on Sons of Anarchy was during season 5, episode 10, which aired on November 13, 2012.

Barger underwent surgery as a result of prostate cancer in 2012. His prostate was removed and he was subsequently declared free of cancer.[40]

Barger left Arizona in October 2016, returning to the Oakland chapter.[41] On May 3, 2018, he testified in the racketeering trial of Bandidos Motorcycle Club former national president Jeffrey Fay Pike and former vice-president Xavier John Portillo after being called as a defense witness by lawyers for Pike. Unable to travel to the trial in San Antonio, Texas due to medical reasons, Barger testified via video link from the federal courthouse in San Francisco, denying that the Hells Angels and the Bandidos were enemies. Barger's testimony challenged earlier assertions by government witnesses who testified that Anthony Benesh, a motorcyclist who was shot dead in Austin, Texas on March 18, 2006 after attempting to establish a Hells Angels chapter in the city, was killed by Bandidos members because he had ignored the club's warnings to not set up a HAMC chapter in Texas.[42]

Selected works

  • With Keith Zimmerman (2001). Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. William Morrow. ISBN 0-06-093754-8.
  • Ridin' High, Livin' Free: Hell-Raising Motorcycle Stories. William Morrow. 2003. ISBN 0-06-000603-X.
  • Dead in 5 Heartbeats. HarperTorch. 2004. ISBN 9780060532536.
  • Freedom: Credos from the Road. William Morrow. 2005. ISBN 0-06-053256-4.
  • 6 Chambers, 1 Bullet. William Morrow. 2006. ISBN 9780060745318.
  • Let's Ride: Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcycling. William Morrow. 2010. ISBN 978-0-06-196427-5.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ Newton-Matza, Mitchell (March 26, 2014). Disasters and Tragic Events: An Encyclopedia of Catastrophes in American History [2 volumes]. ISBN 9781610691666.
  2. ^ Hell’s Angels Criminal Enterprise Albert De Amicis, University of Phoenix (August 14, 2009)
  3. ^ a b c Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and The Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club Ralph 'Sonny' Barger, with Keith and Kent Zimmerman (2000)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Look Homeward Angel: Cycle Icon Sonny Barger Kick-Starts Life As A Free Man By Violating Parole Philip Martin, Phoenix New Times (December 2, 1992)
  5. ^ a b Hell’s Angels on Trial: Tales of Drugs & Death Tim Findley, Rolling Stone (December 21, 1972)
  6. ^ a b c d Jail Terms Deplete Ranks of Hell's Angels Wallace Turner, The New York Times (March 18, 1973)
  7. ^ Hells Angels vs. Allen Ginsberg: The unlikely Vietnam War-era confrontation Bill Van Niekerken, San Francisco Chronicle (May 15, 2018)
  8. ^ Ralph "Sonny" Barger Confronts VDC / Press Conference sfsu.edu
  9. ^ Angels, Protesters and Patriots: What a Long-Ago Skirmish Says About Love of Country Chris A. Smith, California (Spring 2016)
  10. ^ Angels in Court: The Strange Tale of Baby Huey Tim Findley, Rolling Stone (February 15, 1973)
  11. ^ The Rise and Fall of California's Radical Prison Movement Eric Cummins (1994)
  12. ^ 33 Angels Seized In Drug Roundup Oakland Tribune (August 31, 1968)
  13. ^ Barger, Sonny; Zimmerman, Keith; and Zimmerman, Kent Hell's Angels: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. HarperCollins, pp 159 – 169
  14. ^ a b c Wayward Angel: The Full Story of the Hells Angels George Wethern and Vincent Colnett (1978)
  15. ^ a b c Hell’s Angels: Masters of Menace Howard Kohn, Rolling Stone (April 5, 1979)
  16. ^ Death Scene Told at Angel Trial Del Lane, Oakland Tribune (November 22, 1972)
  17. ^ The Rough Rider : Entrepreneur. Philanthropist. Hell’s Angel Sonny Barger is just a regular guy. Unless you cross him. Bob Sipchen, Los Angeles Times (December 14, 1994)
  18. ^ Barger Uncertain Of His Future Santa Cruz Sentinel (November 4, 1977)
  19. ^ a b U.S. Drug Investigation Brings a Round of Arrests for Hell's Angels Wallace Turner, The New York Times (June 18, 1979)
  20. ^ Hell's Angel racketeering defendants reduced by two Santa Maria Times (October 6, 1979)
  21. ^ "Organized Crime Research". Klaus von Lampe. 2000. Retrieved December 8, 2007.
  22. ^ Mistrial Declared in 8-Month Hells Angels Trial on Coast Wayne King, The New York Times (July 3, 1980)
  23. ^ Hells Angels Stage Funeral for Leader Killed in Bar Fight Los Angeles Times (June 11, 1989)
  24. ^ Five-state sweep produces arrests of 32 Hells Angels Ray Means, United Press International (November 11, 1987)
  25. ^ FBI report says informant uncovered Hells Angels crimes United Press International (December 5, 1987)
  26. ^ United States of America v. Ralph Hubert Barger Justia (October 5, 1990)
  27. ^ Louisville trial gives bikers an easy ride Michael York, The Washington Post (October 23, 1988)
  28. ^ Jury Finds National Hells Angels Leader Guilty of Conspiracy Associated Press (October 29, 1988)
  29. ^ "Jury Finds Hells Angels Leader Guilty in Plots", Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, October 29, 1988
  30. ^ Inmate locator Federal Bureau of Prisons
  31. ^ Barger (2001)
  32. ^ Still on the road The Guardian (14 June 2000)
  33. ^ Chico Mora Led the Dirty Dozen Into the Hells Angels' Camp, Claiming Arizona for the Red and White Stephen Lemons, Phoenix New Times (June 24, 2015)
  34. ^ Hells Angels marks milestone Angela Hill, East Bay Times (March 30, 2007)
  35. ^ Devilish Angels seek to look innocent Dennis Wagner and Senta Scarborough, The Arizona Republic (July 9, 2003)
  36. ^ Zorana Barger MyHeritage
  37. ^ Holmstrom, Darwin (1998). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles. Alpha.
  38. ^ Barger & Holmstrom (June 8, 2010). Let's Ride: Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcycling. HarperCollins.
  39. ^ Barger, Ralph (October 2, 2001) [2001, 2000]. "Harleys, Choppers, Full Dressers, and Stolen Wheels". Hell's Angel the Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. Harper. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-06-093754-6.
  40. ^ American Legend Sonny Barger celebrate his 80. Birthday backroad-diaries.de (9 October 2018)
  41. ^ Open Road? Craig Outhier, Phoenix (February 21, 2018)
  42. ^ A founder of the Hells Angels testifies for ex-Bandidos leader Guillermo Contreras, San Antonio Express-News (May 3, 2018)
  43. ^ a b Nathan Southern. "Sonny Barger: Full Biography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on September 28, 2012. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  44. ^ a b Sonny Barger at IMDb
  45. ^ Independent Feature Film Dead In 5 Heartbeats by American Motorcycle Legend Sonny Barger
  46. ^ Dead in 5 Heartbeats (2013)
  47. ^ DEAD IN 5 HEARTBEATS (movie review) | Forces of Geek: the only pop culture site that matters

Further reading


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